Labour’s curriculum council risks more churn; National’s ECE School Start Check needs funded follow-up

MEDIA RELEASE

30 September 2026

Labour’s curriculum council risks more churn; National’s ECE School Start Check needs funded follow-up

The Parents' Alliance says the Labour Party’s Independent Council for Curriculum and Assessment would slow down reforms that are already under way, and would keep curriculum decisions further from parents.

Labour announced it would keep NCEA unchanged until 2029 and set up a council to review the changes and recommend a way forward.

"Everyone wants stability for teachers and students, and so do we," said Parents' Alliance Chair Cameron Bagrie. "But the way to get it is to keep going with the current reforms, not to hit pause and start another review."

Bagrie said the reforms were not one party's project. "Labour started the curriculum refresh in 2019, and today's reforms build on that work. They're the product of both Labour and National. Pausing now means more than a decade before changes that lift standards reach classrooms, and another group of kids short-changed."

The Parents’ Alliance points to early signs of progress, including improved results in the NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisite assessments.

Bagrie questioned how independent a ministerially appointed council could be. "An independent panel is only as independent as the Minister who appoints it. Look at the Nursing Council, where Ministers recently bypassed the usual process to hand-pick members. A council set up that way can be restocked or scrapped by the next Minister, and then the curriculum is turned upside down again. Australia's experience shows the limits of that model.”

He said Labour's proposal gave no role to parents, employers or the wider community. "Parents are the people with the most at stake, and they're not in the room. And Labour has already committed to removing the SMART assessment tool, so it's made up its mind on some issues before its own council even exists."

The Parents’ Alliance says parents do not trust NCEA, and families want a qualification that properly tests skills and is recognised internationally. It warns that if NCEA is not replaced, more schools in affluent areas may move to Cambridge or the IB, widening the gap for students without those options.

The Parents’ Alliance also wants the transition to be properly resourced, so students who have fallen behind get the support they need to catch up.

"Our message to whoever is Minister after the election is simple," Bagrie said. "Continue the reforms, resource teachers and learning support properly, and wait for the data before making further dramatic changes. Decisions should be based on evidence, not politics."

National’s School Start Check

The Parents’ Alliance also commented on National’s Set Up for Success policy, which would end screen use in early childhood centres, tightly limit it in Years 1 to 3, and introduce a School Start Check before children begin school.

"Parents will welcome a line in the sand on screens," Bagrie said. "We send children to school to be taught by a teacher."

Bagrie said the School Start Check could give parents and new entrant teachers a clearer picture of how ready each child is for school, but only if children who need help actually get it.

"A check without funded follow-up is just another report," he said. "If a child is identified as needing extra support, that support has to arrive quickly."

The Parents’ Alliance notes that when the Government announced $266 million for the Early Intervention Service in Budget 2025, more than 3,000 children were on the waitlist. In 2023/24, the average wait was 126 days.

"The Government has made a start, but parents need answers," Bagrie said. "Who will carry out the check? How will it be funded? And will the Early Intervention Service have the capacity to see the children it identifies quickly enough to make a difference?"

Further comment is in the first newsletter released by the Parents’ Alliance found on www.parentsalliance.nz

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ENDS

Media contact: Cameron Bagrie, Chair and Spokesperson, The Parents’ Alliance 027 290 9844

About the Parents' Alliance: The Parents' Alliance The Parents’ Alliance Te Kotahitanga o ngā Mātua, Le Lotogatasi o Mātua, 家长联盟, पारिवारिक मंच is a national group building a collective voice for parents, grandparents and whānau in education.

More information: parentsalliance.nz